When Billie Jean King looks for the next up-and-coming tennis star, the International Tennis Hall of Famer searches for attributes and intangibles that go far beyond how hard you can hit the ball.
‘I’m always looking for players that can take our sport to another level in the next generation,’ King told USA TODAY Sports ahead of the 2025 US Open. ‘What can you do off the court? Not just be a great player.’
King has made a career of doing just that. The 39-time major winner — who won 12 in singles — has championed gender equality and equal pay, a fight that must be carried on by the next crop of superstars, King said. When asked which tennis stars possess the capability of transcending tennis, King confidently offered two names: Canadian teen sensation Victoria Mboko, who turns 19 on Aug. 26, and two-time major champion Coco Gauff, 21.
‘When I was young, I was thinking about how to change the sport. I’m still thinking about how to change the sport,’ King said. ‘What do you do to help your sport? What do you do to help other human beings? How do you make the world a better place? Those were the things that would gnaw at me as a young person.’
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USA TODAY Sports caught up with King to catch up on the 2025 US Open, young changemakers in the sport, her wish for tennis’ future and her preferred ride of choice with Lyft Silver.
Billie Jean King’s favorite US Open moment
King may be approaching her 82nd birthday in November, but the legend is far from slowing down. ‘I have a schedule that’ll choke you. I don’t stop,’ King playfully tells USA TODAY Sports. Her schedule this week includes appearances at the 145th edition of the US Open, which is being hosted at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Having a tennis venue named after you comes with perks.
‘Because it’s called that, (tournament officials) actually will take care of my transportation if I want to,’ said King, a spokesperson for Lyft Silver designated for seniors. King is part of Lyft’s ‘Silver is Gold’ campaign that’s changing the conversation around aging and independence by providing rides with greater accessibility, larger fonts on the app and live phone support.
When King first made her debut in New York in 1959 at age 15, the US Open was called the U.S. National Championship and professionals were ‘only making $14 a day,’ she recalled. Despite saying she ‘didn’t do that well at the US Open,’ King won the tournament four times. Her favorite memory from the New York-based slam, however, has nothing to do with her actually playing.
‘My most exciting moment … was when we got equal prize money in 1973,’ King said of the U.S. Open, which was the first to award men and women equal prize money. The Australian Open followed suit in 2001, while the French Open and Wimbledon made the change in 2007. ‘I didn’t really care about my results in tennis as much as I did about helping change the sport and then helping women’s sports.’
The pivotal milestone was largely brought on by the tireless work of King. After she won the 1972 US Open and took home $10K, compared to the $25K awarded to men’s singles champion Ilie Năstase of Romania, King staged a boycott among the female competitors and demanded equal pay.
‘In ’72 when I won the tournament, I said, ‘The women aren’t coming back next year unless we get equal prize money.’ And of course, I hadn’t really talked to the women about it,’ said King, who simultaneously lobbied sponsors to make up the difference in prize money. ‘I was panicking and I went and talked to them. They were great.’
Victoria Mboko, Coco Gauff are ‘my favorites to watch’
King’s contributions to tennis are cemented in the history of the game, but King isn’t one to get caught up reminiscing. She’s focused on the sport’s future and the superstars that can advocate for change because King just wants ‘tennis to keep improving.’ Gauff and Mboko are two that come to mind.
‘Players are the ones that can force the issue and take it to another level,’ King added. ‘Those two make a difference off the court as well as on the court.’
Gauff made her professional debut at the age of 15, like King. Gauff burst on the scene at 2019 Wimbledon as the youngest qualifier at the tournament in Open Era history and beat five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in straight sets in their opening-round match. In her short career, Gauff has climbed as high as No. 2 in the world (June 2024) and has two singles Grand Slam titles, including 2023 US Open and 2025 French Open.
Mboko similarly made a splash at age 18 by taking down four former Grand Slam champions (including Gauff) to win the 2025 Canadian Open, a WTA 1000-level hard court event that leads up to the US Open. Mboko, who is ranked No. 23 in the world after starting the 2025 season at No. 333, suffered a 6-3, 6-2 first-round exit against Czech Barbora Krejčíková at the Open on Monday.
‘You can listen to a lot. It’s how they talk,’ King explained. ‘Do they use the ‘we’ word instead of the ‘me’ or ‘I’ word? Can you tell they think about social justice? Do they think about other things besides just hitting a tennis ball? Are they interested in history?’
In June, Gauff told USA TODAY Sports she feels ‘lucky’ that King and other trailblazers ‘put their foot down’ to create systemic change. Gauff continued, ‘I do feel like tennis can be a little bit years ahead … I think in tennis it’s important to continue push it in our own sport.’
Gauff opens the tournament on Tuesday with a first-round matchup against Australian Ajla Tomljanović.
Tennis players aren’t making enough money
Although tennis has ‘come a long way,’ King said change is still needed. She has brainstormed many ways to make tennis more efficient and when you happen to be the godmother of tennis, people listen. Her first gripe is one she’s had for decades — players are not making enough money. (The 2025 US Open singles champions will make $5 million, with the runner-up getting $2.5 million.)
‘I don’t think the players are making enough at the majors,’ King said. ‘It’s really way too low, the prize money for what the tournament’s taking in. I think we need to change it.’
King also believes the scoring system needs updating (‘It should be 1, 2, 3, 4 instead of 15-love or 30-love’), the dress code needs refinement (‘You shouldn’t have the same outfit on as your opponent’), in addition to a touch of individuality (‘You should have names on the back of the shirt.’)
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